


Guarded

by HoddieMaine



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Multi, security guard au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 14:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1058047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoddieMaine/pseuds/HoddieMaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some college kids have jobs, Jean's happens to be securing shit... Sort of. It can be a lonely job, until one day it isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Still Not A Morning Person

His blood shot eyes sagged heavily despite the large coffee he had all but downed in the ten minutes it took to drive from campus to the shack. Nearly a year on first shift and Jean still couldn't call himself a morning person. Whoever thought it was a good idea to ask anyone to function, much less work before the sun was up was a sadist. Dragging his hand through his less than kempt sandy brown hair and chugging the last of his coffee, he pulled open the door to the guard shack. 

"Connie, seriously? Wake the fuck up."

Jean flipped on the harsh florescent lights of the tiny building he would be spending the next eight hours in. Connie jumped sending what Jean could only assume was a house of cards cascading to the ground.

"Jean you suck, holy shit," he grumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"How the hell you've managed to keep this job for as long as you have is completely beyond me."

"You're one to talk, asshole. Everyone is always saying the morning guard is mean."

"Oh, wow," Jean rolled his eyes, setting his cup and bag down on the desk, "mean, that hurts, I think I'm gonna cry."

Connie stood, gathering his things and pushed the rolling chair under the desk. He and Jean had to awkwardly dance around each other in order to switch places in the very limited space.

"All I'm saying is it wouldn't kill you to be a little nicer, you know."

"Do you have your key? Because I locked the door."

"Uhh..." Connie rummaged in his pockets, eventually producing a key to the dorm room the two shared. "Yup," he smiled.

"Good now get the fuck out of here, some of us actually work while at work," Jean teased, unzipping his backpack.

"Ha, yeah right," Connie laughed, walking backwards through the door.

Yeah, that was a crock of shit and everyone knew it. Jean pulled out his laptop and plugged it in. He flipped off the headache inducing lights and by the blue glow of the screen and the deep orange and green of the sun's rays just teasing over the horizon, Jean set about making a pot of coffee. He pulled a little tub out from under the desk that took up more than its fair share of the small building and pulled out the grounds and a package of poptarts he had stashed away. He unplugged the microwave on top of the minifridge and plugged in the coffee maker sitting on top of both. Once it got going, Jean sat down. 

From where he sat he could reach the coffee pot as well as the door to the even smaller bathroom. Behind him a slotted shelf took up nearly the entire wall. In the corner of the desk sat an ancient TV/VCR combo like the one Jean's grandmother used to have strapped between the two front seats of her van when he was little. Instead of Nemo saving Slumberland from the Nightmare King for probably the third time that week, it cycled through progressively grainier footage of the warehouse and its immediate surroundings. As per usual, not a soul in sight as the sun finally emerged from its hiding place.

Jean poured himself a cup and went to sit out in front of the shack, breathing in the cool autumn morning air. Sure he could see the sunrise from his desk since the wall it faced was nothing but window from about his waist up, but Jean preferred to be out of his cramped work space as much as possible.

Across the lot and small median people were starting to bustle about. Must be nearly seven. The warehouse Jean "guarded" shared a parking lot with another warehouse and the respective guardshacks basically faced each other. Connie said they weren't really security guards, more like data entry for the tractor-trailers they checked in and out all day. Jean argued that they were barely security guards either, but according to his roommate, the "surveillance monitor" made them legit. Whatever. Monitor or not, these guys looked infinitely more legit.

They all had matching starched to death grey buttoned down shirts with striped epaulets on their shoulders to show rank, black slacks and belts and shiny black boots. They even had black jackets with their company's logo on the sleeve for when it got cold, and to complete the wannabe cop look, each guard had their own shiny silver badge pinned to their chest. Jean looked down at his nearly faded Jurassic Park tee and favorite black hoodie. Ha, yeah he did NOT envy those dorks.

He watched the commotion of their shift change. Most of the employees were kids from the local university as is the case with almost any unsalaried job in a college town. He had seen most of them around campus. Once again out of coffee, Jean turned to go back into his shack.

"Hey, Jean, do you just sit around mean mugging people actually working all day, or do you do anything over there?"

"I don't know Jaeger, why don't you ask your mom," Jean shouted without so much as glancing back and shut the door probably a bit too aggressively behind him.


	2. Some Lost Passerthrough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren & Co. get a new coworker. Bet you'll never guess who.

7:05am TO CONNIE: im gonna kill jaeger one of these days  
12:30pm FROM CONNIE: dude don't tell me that it makes it first degree  
12:30pm TO CONNIE: ugh  
12:32pm FROM CONNIE: Sasha's when you get off?  
12:33pm TO CONNIE: oh my god yeah im starving

Jean ignored the embarrassingly loud noises coming from his stomach as he watched the Chitauri get their asses handed to them on his laptop screen. He checked his phone. 1:30pm. Plenty of time to finish the movie before Thomas came in to relieve him and if he hustled, he and Connie could make it to Sasha's before the lunch specials ended.

The credits rolled as Jean gathered his things, waiting for the final scene. Glancing out the window he noticed a car pulling up to his guard shack. It wasn't Thomas' shiny new car or Connie's beat up piece of crap, that much Jean knew. With an exasperated sigh he cut the movie short and closed his laptop. The little white Volvo stopped just outside his door.

Jean figured it was some lost passerthrough since they were fairly off the beaten path. As he rounded the front of the car the driver's window lowered. A guy about Jean's age was beaming out at him.

"Hi," the freckled twenty something said pleasantly looking from Jean to his surroundings. "I'm not sure if I'm in the right place, uh, its my first day and the directions I got over the phone kind of sucked." He chuckled looking back at Jean. A bright flash suddenly had Jean shielding his eyes from the sun reflecting harshly off a silver badge pinned to his mystery visitor's chest.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess," Jean said gesturing vaguely at the stanger's uniform, "and say you belong to the guards over there." His eyes followed to where Jean pointed.

"Oh, ok, thanks." He threw his car in reverse as Jean moved away. "Have a nice day," he called, waving out his open window.

 _I give it a week before they destroy every kind fibre of his being_ , Jean thought. Eren Jaeger could make Mother Theresa abandon all niceties.

\-----

"Yeah, I'm parking right now, chill out, jesus, Connie." Jean hung up his phone, stuffing it in his pocket as he jumped out of his truck, jogging into the small building. As soon as he was through the door the smell of fresh french fries, pastries baking and meat on the grill hit his nose, making his mouth water.

Sasha's was a local favorite, especially for the college kids. They had a little bit of everything and the prices were great. Jean saw Connie sitting in their usual spot in the huge slanted window left over from when the building had been a flower shop. Jean zig zagged through the crowded restaurant and sat down across from his roommate.

"I got you a coke," Connie said, looking around for their waiter.

"Cool, did you order food yet?"

"Nah, figured I'd wait. I wasn't sure how long you'd be."

"Hey, Jean. You guys know what you want?" 

"Hi, Sasha."

Sasha was one of Jean's best friends and Connie's girlfriend. Her parents had opened the restaurant when she was little and named it after her in hopes that they would pass it on to her when she was older. Sasha couldn't care less about the business itself but she was good with customers and had an uncanny knack for pairing foods together perfectly and making something surprisingly delicious out of unlikely ingredients. Most regular customers didn't even order off the menu, they just let Sasha throw something together for them.

"Just surprise us," Connie answered.

"You got it," she said bustling off to take care of other customers.

"How was work?"

"Boring as usual," Jean answered unenthusiastically. "Finished the chapter for anthropology and my calculus work. Watched The Avengers. Again."

"Shit, I still have to read that."

"The Band of Bastards got a new recruit."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Sasha returned with refills and a concoction she called mozzarella stick salad which consisted of a bed of mozzarella sticks covered in brushetta toppings.

"Hey, are we going to that party Ymir was telling us about yesterday," she asked Connie. "She just asked me about it again when I went into the kitchen."

"I guess, where is it gonna be?"

"Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner's house."

"Yeah, sure, I'm down. Jean?"

"Maybe, I have a test on Monday that I really need to study for. Plus, I don't think Ymir likes me very much."

"She doesn't like most people," Sasha said at the same time Connie said, "All you do is study, live a little, man."

Jean laughed. "Fine, I'll think about it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, what a busy week. I wrote this over several sittings, so hopefully it doesn't feel to choppy. I listened to several JeanMarco mixes on 8tracks while writing, there are a lot of really good ones.
> 
> Personal Tumblr: hoddiemaine  
> Writing blog: fic-le-pickle
> 
> I'm still shocked anyone has read any of my stuff, thanks for the kudos you guys <3
> 
> Also, I'm totally aware that passerthrough isn't a word, my roommate and brother teased me, but I like it and it makes just as much sense as passerby so whatever, suck it.


	3. Freckles McNewGuy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean helps that new guy fax some stuff. Wow, cool description, that'll totally entice readers...

Darkness surrounded him and the building was remarkably quiet, yet Jean lay wide eyed and tense in a tangle of sheets. He rolled away from the wall and towards the open and otherwise uninhabited room. 2:57AM. Jean groaned and rolled back over. He had to get up for work in two and a half hours. Connie was probably getting better sleep in the shack than he was in his own bed. He had calculus after work today too, so there was no hope for a nap.

Jean sighed heavily and flipped on the lights. He dragged his tired body from the bed and began to straighten up the small room.

\-----

"Wow, you look like shit."

"Good morning, Connie, I'm wonderful, thanks for asking..."

"Please tell me you didn't 'clean' any of my stuff," Connie said complete with air quotes.

Jean rolled his eyes, you'd think he'd be a little more grateful. "No, I didn't fuck with any of your stuff."

"Good, because last time I couldn't find anything. It took me and Sasha like 20 minutes to find my shoes and you were too out of it to even remember where you put anythi-"

"I said I didn't mess with your shit!" 

Connie's eyes widened initially at the outburst but quickly softened to a more somber expression. God, Jean hated that look, it was too close to pity and was always followed with a pat on the shoulder and a lame attempt at assuring him that things were ok, like- 

"I think its great that you try to be productive," Connie said as he patted Jean's shoulder.

-yeah, like that.

"Yeah, I guess." All his previous intensity gone.

"I made you a pot of coffee," Connie smiled softly, opening the door of the shack.

"Thanks," Jean said, meeting his eyes. "I'll see you later."

"See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!" Connie laughed, half jogging to his car.

 _Me neither._ Jean rubbed his blood shot eyes and drained the gritty dreggs of coffee from the bottom of his gas station cup, refilling it with the fresh brewed version his amazing roommate had so thoughtfully provided.

He settled in for what was sure to be a long day.

\-----

Jean watched the kick-you-in-the-face-yellow blurs of security vests zip around the gates, checking trailers and giving directions to truck drivers. They seemed to be moving at breakneck speeds. The coffee was definitely wearing off. He had helped two drivers today, and the ever exciting false fire alarms had set off inside the warehouse and he'd checked and reset it, so there was that...

Currently he had music playing a little too loud and was attempting to read for anthropology but couldn't convince the letters to stop swimming in and out of focus. He only had a couple hours to go, he could make it, he could-

could-

\-----

Flowers. Purple flowers. Smells and feels like spring. There's a breeze, warm and pleasant. The gallop of the horse is rough, but oddly comforting. Familiar. Right. Heading home. It's getting late.

_Hey._

Oh. There's someone else. Also on a horse. Also heading home? 

_Hey._

"What?" Galloping home. Sun is setting.

"I need to use your fax machine?"

 _What?_ Nothing. No horses. No flowers. Just a fuzzy hazy feeling. Where was he going again?...

Jean shot up from where he was hunched over the desk so quickly he nearly overturned his chair. He wiped the little bit of drool from the corner of his mouth and took a deep breath. Shit, he fell asleep at work. In the middle of the day when anyone could see him. His breathing evened back out and-

"Can I use your fax machine or?..."

"Jesus christ!" Jean clutched his chest and almost lost his seat for a second time.

A tall and freckled TitanSecurity guard, dressed to the T, was standing in his too-small-for-two-people shack, obviously trying his hardest not to laugh at Jean and holding a small stack of papers.

"You scared the shit out of me man!"

"Sorry," the guy chuckled under his breath. "Our fax machine broke and my supervisor said you had one and would probably let me use it."

Jean's sleep deprived brain was slowly catching up with it's surroundings.

"You were that guy the other day. The new one."

"Haha, yeah, the lost one. I've never been out this road before, I had no idea this place existed."

"They sent the new guy over to fax stuff?"

"Mikasa was working on some paper work and she said you and Eren were... confrontational... with each other so I volunteered."

Jean had to laugh at that. He knew Mikasa had probably used much more colorful words than that. He got up and woke the fax machine from hibernation. Freckles McNewGuy handed him his paperwork. The guardshack across from him was completely devoid of trucks, he could see Eren talking on his cellphone and walking in lazy circles, gesturing wildly, and Mikasa standing over what was likely a ton of bills and lists. Shocker...

"Coffee while you wait? I think I left a mug here the other day." Jean began shuffling things around.

"Oh, thank you, but maybe next time, I don't want to be gone too long."

"Oh, ok, yeah." Jean tried to hide his minor disappointment, this guy wasn't so bad and nothing like eight hours by yourself to make you want to talk to anything with ears. The fax went through successfully, Jean gathered the papers back up and handed them to his visitor.

"Thanks, I guess I'll see you around." He smiled wide and pushed the door open.

"Yeah, see ya."

With that the other young man turned and headed back to the adjacent building. Jean looked at the clock. 1:55. Thomas would be here any minute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I over use commas pretty regularly as it is and I finished this super tired, why? Because I've been dying to write it for days and I should already be asleep ok goodnight.


	4. Lighten Up, It's A Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean goes to a party. Man, I suck at these...

The professor's voice was distant and distorted in Jean's ears as he struggled to stay awake, forget about staying focussed. His notes sat forgotten in front of him. He almost didn't notice the class begin to move around him on their way to the door. He hastily slid everything into his bag and booked it to the exit. 

With the exception of the brief nap in the shack, Jean was working on no sleep in over 24 hours. He dropped his bag on the floor the second he was through his door and face planted onto his bed. He used what little energy he had left to roll over and toe his shoes off.

Connie opened the door to the room and flung his crap onto his bed.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like Connie? I'm trying to fucking sleep."

"No, we have that party tonight, remember? Dude, we just talked about it a couple days ago."

"Look, I'm exhausted. The party will happen with or without me."

"Come on, sleep is for the weak. Besides, I told Ymir we'd pick up the keg since you've got a truck."

Jean sighed loud and exasperated. 

"I hate you so much right now."

"No you don't," Connie laughed, flopping on top of a struggling Jean. "Lets go."

\-----

Bass heavy music bumped from the living room as Jean and Connie and a couple of random party goers heaved the keg across the sticky kitchen floor. Bert, Reiner and Annie's place was pretty nice, they had a partially finished basement, a fairly large first floor and all three bedrooms on the the second, although everyone knew the third bedroom was essentially just a guest bedroom.

Jean made his way through the crowds of people. He spotted the trio standing near the door, Reiner and Bertholdt completely immersed in what the other was saying and Annie seemed to be listening closely to something Armin had to say.

Shit.

If Armin was here that meant that-

"Hey Kirschtein, didn't expect to see you here. All you seem to do is work and school. Do you even sleep or just pump your blood full of caffeine?"

-Eren was here.

"According to Connie sleep is for the weak..." Jean said without an ounce of enthusiasm.

"Woah, lighten up, its a party. Hey, Mikasa, over here!"

Eren made his way over to where Mikasa had joined Armin and Annie. Jean turned back towards the kitchen and made himself a drink.

Down in the basement there was a threadbare and stained couch shoved into a corner and boxes of random knick knacks and summer clothing lined a couple of the walls, but the real gem of the space was the pingpong table in the middle. The three roommates were insanely intense when it came to pingpong, Jean was sure lesser men would cry when faced with the idea of having to play one of them. Bertl was high champion, but the other two were not far behind, and they really only ever lost to each other. On nights like these however, the table was modified into a beer pong table.

Connie and Sasha were standing on opposite sides of the table, triangles of beer filled cups in front of them. A couple of people Jean didn't recognize sat on the end of the couch.

"Jean be on my team, Sasha cheats."

"I do not!"

"She so does, look at that face, how am I supposed to not get distracted?"

Jean rolled his eyes as the couple continued to say borderline nauseating things to each other. He sat down on the open side of the couch as people filtered in and out of the basement. Sasha and Connie managed to coerce two more people to join them and Jean watched the game, sipping on his drink, laughing at the others antics and more than once stepped in as an impartial judge when someone broke the rules.

Jean felt warm and fuzzy from his drink and the enjoyable company. The game ended and several of the people that had gathered to watch disbanded. Jean set his empty cup on the ground, pulling his legs up underneath him and listening to the partygoers slightly slurred chatter. 

\-----

"It really isn't safe to fall asleep at parties."

Jean opened his eyes to a completely empty basement, save whoever had just spoken to him. Someone had turned off the lights, only a soft glow came from the top of the stairs. Something soft and turquoise had his arms confined. Sasha's hoodie. Jean grunted and pulled it off of him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to see who was down here with him.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Watch your eyes," he said as he flipped on the lights. Jean reacted a little too slowly and nearly had his eyeballs melted out of their sockets before he threw his arm over his face.

"How many times am I going to catch you sleeping?" He laughed.

"What," Jean asked, voice still raspy from sleep, as he moved his arm away. It was Freckles McNewGuy. Jean wasn't really sure what was happening, was this guy actually here, was he following him, was he even awake right now? The guys face fell a little before he started laughing, trying desperately to hold in the bubbles of laughter escaping him.

"Oh no. It- it looks like they already got you," he managed to get out.

"What are you talking about?"

He pulled out his phone and flipped the camera around, handing it to Jean. Jean took the phone and looked at his reflection. On his forehead, in capital letters was _EREN RULES_ and on his neck was a little erect penis.

"Oh. My. God." Jean looked at the little screen, shocked and horrified. "Do you think this is permanent?!" He didn't squeek. He didn't. Nope.

"Hold on a sec," the other guy said, running up the stairs.

Jean was going to kill Jaeger as soon as he figured out how he could get to him without anyone else seeing his face. He ran a finger over the black ink on his neck. He licked his fingers and started rubbing furiously, smearing the thick outline.

"Ok, this should- hey, stop, you're going to make it worse," Freckles said, hurrying down the stairs.

Jean stopped rubbing and glared hard at the other man. He either didn't notice the deathglare or just didn't care, because he kneeled in front of Jean and pressed a cool wet paper towl to his neck, wiping in little circles.

"Shit, that stings!" Jean flinched away.

"Its hand sanitizer, if you hadn't already rubbed it raw, it would be fine," he said, holding Jean still as he went back to his administrations. Jean sat still as he allowed this stanger to clean his skin.

"Well the good news is I got all of the marker off, the bad news is I heard Eren saying he took a picture first."

"God damnit," Jean fumed. He could feel his face get red and his blood start to boil. He was going to beat the shit out of that kid. "I'm gonna kill him, I just gotta get him away from Mikasa first."

Freckles stood and allowed Jean to get off the couch and begin to pace.

"Why don't you just get him back instead? I mean, I'm not really for the embarassment of a co-worker, but I guess it beats physical fighting." He actually looked completely averted to the idea.

Jean thought about it for a second. He really just wanted to punch Jaeger's stupid face, but he was coming around to this idea.

"Ok, like what?"

"I don't know, you could make him look stupid and take a picture of it, I guess."

"I have an idea."

\-----

A soaking wet boy with confetti sticking to his shirt and cheek and a ridiculous bright blue wig, sideways and barely hanging on his head glared out of the screen with a look equal parts confusion and mass murdering rage, that really only Eren fucking Jaeger could manage. Jean peered over his shoulder, making a dumb face and attempting to keep the wig in its intended spot. Jean was laughing much harder than he should have been, the bruise on his arm totally worth it.

"Oh my god, I love you, you're a genius," Jean practically cackled as they walked out of the house.

Freckles McNewGuy turned bright red. "I'm pretty sure you came up with the plan."

"Yeah but you found that wig in the basement, so it's like 50/50."

"Haha, I guess so."

"Hey, send that to me," Jean asked as he reached his truck. He gave his partner in crime his number.

"Ok, you should get it soon."

They parted ways with 'see you around's and Jean started to make the drive to his dorm. Connie wasn't there, probably off with Sasha. He slung off his hoodie, pulled his shirt over his head and left his shoes and blue jeans in a heap on the floor, FINALLY crawling into bed, thank god he was off tomorrow.

He plugged in his phone and opened the one unread message. He laughed at the dumb picture of him and Eren and saved it to his phone as well as the sender's number.

Without even hesitating, Jean added 'Freckles McNewGuy' to his contacts. His last thought before falling asleep was that he should really learn that guy's name.

He slept like a rock that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I hope these guys aren't too ooc or anything...
> 
> As always  
> hoddiemaine.tumblr.com  
> And  
> fic-le-pickle.tumblr.com
> 
> Thanks for the kudos and comments and most of all reading!
> 
> A special high five to the reader that commented on the last chapter about Eren writing inappropriate things on Jean if he found him sleeping, you're obviously psychic, you turd <3


	5. bzzt bzzt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning after party. Jean just wants to know that one guy's name. Jean's friends kind of suck sometimes.

The soft shuffling of feet and jingle of keys woke Jean. He rolled over to see his roommate making his way across the room in the clothes he was wearing yesterday. 

"Just getting in?" Jean yawned.

"Yeah, slept at Sasha's," he sighed flopping onto his bed. "I see you got the marker off."

"Where you in on that?!" Jean sat up straight and glared.

"No, of course not! I don't even think Sasha and I were there any more, we walked down to Taco Bell. Reiner sent me a picture of you drooling on that couch in the basement."

Jean pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a sigh. 

"Yeah, well we got the asshole back." He smiled remembering the look on Eren's face as water crashed down on his head.

"Oh yeah? What did you do? You guys didn't get in a fight right?"

Jean pulled out his phone, opening the message from last night and tossing it to Connie, then stood and went to his dresser. Connie looked at the screen for a moment before busting out laughing.

"What the fuck. Who's wig is that? Why is he wet? Who was brave enough, or stupid enough really, to help you take this?" Connie laughed gasping out questions at a mile a minute.

"It was that new guy that works with Eren and Mikasa. He's pretty cool. He's the one that got the maker off my face actually."

"Oh that freckled guy? The one you were getting all chummy with and sneaking around upstairs? Is that where that hickey came from?"

Jean nearly knocked his deodorant off the dresser as he whipped towards Connie turning bright red.

"What the fuck are you talking about?!"

"Oh, I just assumed that's where you got that hickey on your neck. I didn't really see you with anyone else so..." Connie trailed off awkwardly.

Jean practically fell over himself getting to the mirror. There was in fact a redish purple irritated looking spot on his neck that sort of resembled a hickey. Jean was about to lose his cool when he remembered rubbing furiously at that same spot in a vain attempt to get rid of Eren's doodle. He laughed one sharp 'HA' at the story that Connie must have concocted in his head.

"Ok, first of all, I'm not gay. Second of all, that's not even a fucking hickey. Third, we were only sneaking around upstairs to plot against Jaeger."

"Oh. Well you could be gay though, I'm just saying. I don't care, I'd still love you. Even if you liked doing dude butts," Connie laughed.

Jean rolled his eyes but cracked a smile despite his best efforts.

"I'm still not gay but I appreciate your lack of aversion to my hypothetical butt sex," Jean deadpanned as he pulled on a shirt. "I'm going to get some food, hungry?"

"Surprisingly no. I'm tired as shit though, probably gonna crash for a bit."

"Ok, see ya."

\-----

The temperature had dropped sometime during the night and Jean pulled his jacket a little tighter. Winter was just around the corner. He made his way across the parking lot to the Chinese food place. He ducked inside quickly to escape the chilly autumn air.

He ordered and stepped back from the register to sit at a small table to the side. He stopped drumming his fingers on the table when a soft _bzzt bzzt_ came from his pocket. He fished out his phone and swiped his thumb across the screen.

From Eren: if you delete your pic I'll delete mine.  
To Eren: fat chance, I don't believe you plus I like the dumb face your making.  
From Eren: omg fine just don't put it on Facebook ok  
To Eren: I won't if you won't  
From Eren: deal. I heard you were making out with my coworker, is that true? 

_Jesus Christ_. Jean's cheeks did not flush. It was just warm in here. 

To Eren: it's not a fucking hickey damnit and what is your coworker's name it's driving me crazy  
From Eren: wow Jean, you don't even ask guys their name before you make out with them? Armin says that's pretty slutty 

Almost simultaneously Jean was notified of a text from Armin. 

From Armin: I did not say that! 

To Eren: just tell me his name  
From Eren: hell no my coworkers shouldn't be fraternizing with the enemy  
To Eren: that doesn't even make fucking sense our companies aren't rivals besides we fraternize all the time we have the same friends  
From Eren: I'll tell you if you buy me and Armin lunch at Sasha's 

Jean grabbed his bag of food off the counter and walked out the door scowling. Fine, he would get somebody else to tell him. 

\----- 

From Armin: I took Armin and Mikasa's phones mwahahaha 

_Fuck._

From Reiner: Eren said he'd give me a bottle of whatever I wanted to not tell you sorry bro 

_Seriously?_

From Bertl: um, Reiner asked me not to tell you said he wouldn't... You know... For awhile...  
To Bertl: I DONT WANT TO KNOW THAT STUFF  
From Bertl: sorry. Also, Annie would appreciate it if you stopped texting her... 

From Ymir: leave me out of your bullshit with Eren.  
To Ymir: I didn't even text you  
From Ymir: good 

From Christa: sorry Jean, I would tell you if I knew. I don't think Ymir actually knows either. Mikasa has mentioned him in passing when she gets home but that's it. Wish I could help :/ 

_Balls._ Well this sucked. He just wanted to not have to call the guy Freckles McNewGuy for the rest of forever. Jean's stomach dropped at the thought of having to straight up ask the guy his name. What if he hated him after that and thought he was a jerk? 

Jean reminded himself that he was just the guy that worked across the parking lot from him, it wasn't like it was going to be a regular thing for them to interact. 

\----- 

"I'm heading to work," Connie called out, craning around the door to the communal bathrooms. 

"I didn't think you were supposed to work tonight," Jean replied from the shower. 

"Yeah well Mina called in sick, so..." 

"Ok, be safe, I heard there's supposed to be freezing rain tonight." 

"Ok." 

Jean turned off the water and towled himself off. He made his way down the hallway and into his room. He pulled on boxers and tossed his towel over the back of a chair. He turned off the lights and layed down on the bed closing his eyes. He rolled over onto his side and pulled the covers up to his chin curling in on himself ever so slightly. His breathing evened out and he cleared his mind. His body was achy and heavy with sleepiness. He nuzzled his face down into his pillow. He breathed in the smell of his shampoo and face wash. He rolled over onto his other side and pulled his second pillow into his chest, sighing heavily. 

Jean's eyes opened a fraction and he looked out across his room. A streetlight outside filtered through the blinds leaving stripes on the walls and floor. Connie's ihome glowed softly from the corner. 10:04. 

Jean closed his eyes again and snuggled even further down into his blankets. He was so comfortable. His muscles were slowly releasing the tension of the day, stiffness just melting away. 

_Probably should have read the next chapter for anthro._

Jean rolled onto his back, one arm curved around his head. 

_Test in calculus on Wednesday, wonder if Armin wants to study._

He rubbed his face with his hand. 

_I wonder if Connie is going home for Thanksgiving._

Jean rolled over and grabbed his phone. 

To Connie: are you going home for thanksgiving  
From Connie: idk I thought you were going to bed  
To Connie: I am  
From Connie: I don't think you're doing a very good job of it 

Jean sighed he put his phone back on the table. He pushed the covers down near his waist. He rolled onto his stomach, one arm under his pillow, the opposite leg pulled up, almost in an army crawl position. He counted to one hundred slowly.

\-----

One hundred and twenty-three.

_I should probably do laundry tomorrow. Shit what number was I on?_

Two hundred and twelve. 

_I can't decide if I like that RWBY show. Man, I'd be really pissed if I was on a team and our team name was the name of the fucking youngest person on the team. Shit. One. Two. Three._

Ninety-one.

_What if bologna came from like little bologna creatures that were just solid little cylinders of meat with legs and little squished faces and came from Russia except the ones with peppers and cheese come from Spain..._

One hundred and forty-seven. 

Jean flung the covers off of him and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. 2:18. He groaned and stood up stretching and yawning as he went. 

Pulling the chord of the little bedside lamp, Jean looked around his dorm room. There wasn't really anything in disarray, which was good. He hated cleaning. He pulled his text books from the shelf and began to do his homework for the next several days. 

6:22. 

"Hey," Connie yawned walking through the door. 

"Shit what time is it," Jean asked glancing away from the zombies he was shooting at, dying in the process. 

"Like six thirty I think." Connie yawned and shed his clothing, climbing under the covers. "Couldn't sleep?" 

"No." 

"That sucks." Connie flung his arm over his eyes and Jean watched his breathing slow until he started to softly snore. 

He turned off the game and tv and dragged his fingers through his hair. He got dressed and winced a little when he caught sight of the bags under the eyes staring out of the mirror. He quietly shut the door behind him and headed for the coffee shop on the edge of campus. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are liking it. I hope everyone is mostly in character. Next chapter is already planned out, hopefully I can get it written tomorrow. Two chapters in one weekend what!? Also, I made a tag for this fic cuz that's a thing people do now I guess, so it's "fic: guarded"  
> yep cool beans
> 
> Tumblr:  
> hoddiemaine.tumblr.com  
> And  
> fic-le-pickle.tumblr.com


	6. Nothing Wrong With Opening Up A Little

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Freckles McNewGuy hangout a little. Scratch that, Jean and Marco hangout a little.

The hot bitter liquid slid down his throat, warming him from the inside out. The good thing about living in a college town is that at any given time of day there is at least one coffee shop open.

From his sunken in love seat in the corner, Jean could see the whole room. He watched the Barista, an apathetic teen girl, scroll through some social networking site on her phone. He watched a keyed up kid type furiously at his laptop, pushing his fingers through his hair so vigorously Jean worried he'd pull some out.

The small bell on the door chimed as a gust of harsh morning air blew in erasing the work the coffee had done for Jean. An all too familiar athletic brunet strutted through the door and to the counter. After he placed an order of three regular coffees, Eren glanced around and noticed Jean. Smiling he made his way over to where Jean sat.

"You're up pretty early for your day off aren't you," he asked, plopping down in a chair opposite the love seat.

"You, Mikasa and Armin studying together or something?"

"Armin has an early shift at the library today so we're gonna go bug him... Also study I guess," he shrugged.

The two young men fell quiet, almost comfortably so. Almost.

"I see the hickey is still there."

"Its not a fucking hickey, christ." Jean's hand clapped over his neck.

"God, calm down, I was just joking."

Silence fell between them again, this time much more uneasy.

"His name's Marco, by the way.."

_Who?_ Jean thought before his brain kicked into gear. _Oh, Freckles._

"...Thanks?" Jean was only slightly suspicious, Jaeger wasn't often this pleasant, at least not unless he wanted something.

"Don't say I never did anything for you." The barista called his name. He stood and collected his coffees, waving at Jean as he left.

\-----

Jean sat on the floor of the bathroom, coat pulled tight around him. He pushed himself just far enough off the floor to reach the little knob on the heater and turned it as far as it would go. He considered taking a nap right where he was when he heard the door to the shack open, accompanied by a rush of cold air.

Irritated at whatever trucker was disrupting him and more importantly letting out the heat, Jean began the shpeal he had given to hundreds of truck drivers, slowly removing himself from the dirty tile.

"Open your doors, back up against the dock door as much as you can, unhook and move out from underneath the trailer while they're working on you. Your light will go from green to red then back to green when they're done. They'll put a seal in the back of the trailer, its metal so it blends in, find it put it on and write down your seal number, bring it to me, I'll have your bills ready for you here. You don't have to leave your truck, you just-," Jean finally took a regular, unpracticed breath.

"That sounds a lot like what I have to say," Freckles chuckled. No, not Freckles, Marco. Right, that's what Eren had said? "I still kind of stumble through it though, you sound very smooth, do you even breath between sentences?"

"What are you doing here? _Wow, Jean that's not how you fucking greet someone._ "Uh, I mean, yeah, I've said it multiple times a day, 3-5 days a week for almost a year and a half. I could recite that in my sleep. I'm pretty sure I could get amnesia and that would be the only thing I'd remember."

Marco laughed, a pleasant laugh, not too loud or obnoxious, but definitely more than a chuckle. Jean found the corners of his lips pulling up in response.

"I came to use your fax machine again," he said once his laughter had subsided. "What were you doing in the bathroom?"

"That's a pretty personal question."

Marco turned bright red and looked almost sick with himself for asking. It was Jean's turn to laugh.

"I'm kidding, easy, its just warmer in there. It gets pretty cold in here." Jean clapped him on the shoulder. He started up the fax machine and moved out of the way, letting Marco take over. "Coffee? I was just about to make a pot."

Marco leaned over and peered out the window to his own guard shack. It was pretty dead over there and had been all day. Jean was a firm believer in the notion that truck drivers were just big children and things like the cold could keep them at bay.

"Sure, I don't think they'll need me for a little while," he said as the only truck in line drove through the gates.

"Cool."

Jean pulled a folding chair out from behind the bathroom door and set it up in the space next to his. The cramped quarters made for slightly awkward bumping into each other as they tried to get situated into their respective chairs.

They alternated between glancing at each other and staring hard out the window. Jean had no idea what to say to this guy, he knew nothing but his name and pranking ability.

"I like your shirt," Marco ventured.

Jean had to look to see what he was wearing.

"You like Star Wars?" Duh, he liked Star Wars, basically everyone on the planet liked Star Wars.

"Yeah, but especially that one," he pointed at three jawas slumped over in front of the cantina. "Don't get me wrong, I like the other two, but there's no holding a candle to A New Hope."

It took Jean's brain a second to comprehend the fact that this guy not only called Episode IV by its name, but knew that the image on his shirt came from it specifically.

"Uh, yeah, same... Definitely better than all those ewoks."

"They're not so bad," Marco chuckled.

"Oh please, they were just made to pull in younger kids."

"Hey! I happen to have loved ewoks when I was little and I still love them now."

"Ok, ok." Jean smiled. "So how's working over there?" 

"I like it. Eren and Mikasa are really cool. I haven't met many of the others, but everyone seems really nice."

Jean nodded his head.

"What's up with you and Eren?"

Jean laughed, one sharp ha. Scholars could write books about all the issues the two of them had.

"God, where do I even begin? We went to high school together, middle school too, but we didn't know each other then. We were co-captains of the freshman lacrosse team. We had a really intense rivalry for awhile... Well I guess that sort of stuck... But we started eating lunch together to go over different plays and of course Mikasa and Armin ended up sitting with us. One day I realized we hadn't talked game strategy in nearly a week. I started getting invited to their get togethers, their birthday parties, I was even there for Armin's grandfather's funeral. Eren and I were captains of the JV team sophomore and junior year. I quit the next year, focused on school mostly. We were still pretty close, I went to almost every game senior year and sat with Armin and Mikasa. After the last game of the year I asked Mikasa out. She turned me down. To be honest, I'm pretty sure it was just because she was the only girl I was close to at the time... Jaeger gave me a lot of shit. My pride was hurt and I felt awkward around them. We stopped hanging out really..." 

Jean realized how much he had just bared to this guy he barely knew. His muscles stiffened, and his heart skipped a beat. Marco was going to think he was such a loser. He just shared one of the most embarrassing moments of his high school life with him.

"Whats wrong?"

"Uh, sorry, I just... I don't really talk that much about that kind of stuff..."

"Haha, there's nothing wrong with opening up a little, Jean."

Jean was about to scoff at that, because in his world, pretty much everything was wrong with that, until he realized Marco had said his name. It was stupid for his chest to tighten just a little bit with anxiety, Eren had probably told him at some point, or maybe Jean himself had given it to him at that party, but he couldn't help it. How long had Marco known his name? Had he ever used it before? Jean really felt like an ass for not finding out his name sooner.

Jean rubbed the back of his neck and stared out the window while he tried to control his expression. Marco softly hummed a little tune as his eyes drifted around the shack.

"I like that song," Jean smirked. He had listened to it on the way to work just that morning.

The longer they sat there, the easier the conversation came. It was just small talk, things like the weather and what movies came out the week before, but it was pleasant. 

"Shit, the coffee!" Jean practically toppled out of his chair, but it was too late, the coffee was beyond saving. "Damnit, I think its burned."

Marco stood, grabbing his coat. 

"I forgot all about it, I guess I'll have to take a raincheck. I should get back to work, I've been gone for almost 45 minutes, I'm surprised they haven't sent out a search party for me yet."

"One of these days I _will_ make you a cup of coffee."

"Haha, I'm going to hold you to that."

Marco left and the shack seemed too quiet in his wake. Jean started to pour out the botched coffee, but he ended up pooring it into his cup instead. Who was he kidding, coffee was coffee and he was going to drink it. The rest of his shift went by agonizingly slow.

\-----

"Jean... Please..." Connie whined, face half buried in his pillow.

Jean paced around the room in the dark. He had spent the last two and a half hours tossing and turning in his bed praying sleep would claim him but to no avail. He couldn't lie there any more, he had to do something with himself. He had tried to stay quiet, he really had, but his elbow had toppled a stack of books while he was swiffering and now that Connie was awake, every sound set him off. Jean had abandoned his cleaning and was now beginning to feel like a caged animal.

"I'm sorry."

"Just, please, lay down, go to sleep, please," he croaked, pulling the covers over his head.

If only it was that easy.

"I can't." Jean slumped on his bed, defeated.

Connie sighed softly and rolled over.

"I know. I'm sorry. Anything I can do?"

"No, but thanks... I'm just gonna go to the library."

"K, buddy, try and get some sleep at some point, ok?"

Jean had seriously lucked out freshman year with this goofy, practically bald, dork of a best friend roommate.

\-----

The library was never empty and 1:27 in the morning was no exception. A handful of students were scattered throughout the main floor. Jean made his way to the large staircase near the back. The tables upstairs tended to be more secluded and the reading areas had more comfortable chairs and couches.

Jean beelined for such a reading area. The first two he came across were occupied, one by a thoroughly embarrassed couple he had the misfortune of catching making out. Finally, all the way back in a corner, Jean found a little coffee table covered in books, surrounded by two large, plush looking armchairs and a couch with a couple of throw pillows at one end. 

Jean sat in one of the chairs, pulling his feet up underneath him, and dug out his laptop from his backpack. He opened up Word and thumbing through a spiral of notes, he began his essay for lit that wasn't due until some time next week. 794 words, an hour and fifteen minutes and one giant headache later, Jean snapped his laptop closed and relocated to the couch. He stretched out his lanky form and wiggled into the cushions until he was comfortable. 

Counting ceiling tiles was something Jean had done more times than he could keep track of. Staring up above him, he felt really relaxed for the first time all day. He started in one corner and counted his way across. Halfway through the third row his phone went off. _Bzzt bzzt._ He pulled his phone from his pocket and swiped his thumb across the screen, revealing a text from Marco.

From Freckles McNewGuy: are you sleeping?

That was weird, Marco had never texted him before, Jean was actually surprised he had saved his number. Before he could even wonder why Marco was texting him, he was typing out a response.

To Freckles McNewGuy: no

Eloquent.

"I thought I was going to catch you sleeping again, and I was worried maybe a third time would be weird and you might think I was stalking you... Or something."

Jean about had a heart attack. He flipped over on his stomach and looked up at the taller boy.

"Jesus christ," he panted, rolling back over and clapping his hand over his heart. "Don't you know how to approach someone without nearly killing them?"

"I guess not. Sorry." Marco sat down in the chair Jean had previously occupied.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just finished a research paper. You?"

"Trying to let my roommate sleep."

"Oh... Ok. You look pretty exhausted yourself. Do you snore or something?"

"What? No! No... I was working on a paper. I'm going to head back pretty soon. You're right, I'm pretty tired."

"...ok... Well goodnight then, I guess I'll see you around work."

"Goodnight, Marco."

Marco stood and walked away, stealing one last glance at Jean as he passed. Jean continued to lie there. It was one thing to burden Connie with his shit, he was going to find out about it one way or another, and unfortunately it was his problem by proxy, but it was another entirely to tell the nice guy that worked across from him about his issues.

Jean sighed heavily and went back to counting tiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, long hiatus huh guys? Sorry, Christmas and travel and life, ya know? Anyway, hope you like it. I feel like Jean and I have been on the same sleeping pattern lately ugh, so tired, crashing as soon as I finish typing. 
> 
> Originally I planned on every chapter switching focus from Jean to Marco and back, but Marco didn't come in early enough and then I didn't think it would flow right... But I was thinking about giving Marco his own fic for his side since I had a lot of that already planned out and and some scenes I liked that I had no way of using. What do you guys think?
> 
> Y'all rock, thanks for reading and kudos and comments <3
> 
> Hoddiemaine.tumblr.com &  
> fic-le-pickle.tumblr.com


	7. What about you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco visits Jean at work.

Jean rolled his shoulders, head hanging limp, chin brushing his chest, attempting to loosen the tight muscles, as drops of rain raced down the window pane in front of him. After several days of sunny, mild weather, the cold and damp was a painful reminder that the seasons were quickly changing and the harsh days of winter loomed ahead. The mixture of shitty weather and spending too many nights on the library couch made him unreasonably achy.

There had only been a truck or two in the last hour and Jean was feeling the sluggishness that accompanied a slow day. He looked out across the lot and saw that Marco’s shack was equally as dead. A slow day for everyone, he figured. 

Marco had been over to visit Jean every day for the past two weeks. It ranged from a minute or two as he drove in, to almost two hours yesterday when the ice was bad enough for both warehouses to close down early. Jean had been so pissed off that he wasn’t getting to go home and snuggle back into his bed and play video games all day with Connie or force him into another indie film marathon. At least he was until Marco slip slided across the solid sheet of ice that was their parking lot and practically fell through Jean’s door.

“I figured it might be safer to bring the coffee myself,” he grinned widely holding up two insulated plastic coffee cups with lids and straws. “I didn’t know how you liked yours so I left them both black and just brought cream and sugar.”

Marco set down both cups and pulled from his TitanSecurity issued coat handfuls of what basically looked like some poor corner store's whole station of coffee fixings. Jean sorted through the half and half cups, powder creamer, sweet ‘n’ low, sugar and other colorful packets and grabbed what he wanted. Marco let him choose between the superhero cup and the one covered in owls. Jean of course slid the superheroes across the small desk and unscrewed the lid.

The two doctored their drinks in comfortable silence. Marco added several flavored creamer cups to his until it was a chalky light brown color and smelled of peppermint, while Jean kept his dark as night and sweet as sin with a single creamer packet and almost the whole stash of sugar.

"I'm done with this god awful cold," Jean muttered, sipping his steaming cup of coffee.

Marco chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not much of a fan of it either. I had to buy a new coat yesterday, I didn't really have anything appropriate for this weather that fit me any more. It doesn't get this cold down south."

Jean snapped his attention and his head back towards Marco. They hadn't breached talking about their pasts or personal lives, sticking to small talk about the weather and movies and music they liked, restaurants they frequented, nothing serious.

"I didn't know you were from the south, I mean I knew you weren't from around here because you didn't know about Sasha's, it makes sense though, you're so polite and um, but... Where are you from?"

Marco smiled, though Jean blushed slightly at his inability to string words together in a way that didn't make him sound like a complete idiot.

"Austin."

"Texas?!" Jean was legitimately surprised. "But you're so smart and you don't even have an accent."

"Wow, could you be more rude?" He feigned hurt though he smiled through his words. "Austin is a big city, it does it's own thing, no one really has accents there, and you shouldn't believe everything you see on TV, Jean, we aren't completely backwoods."

"Clearly." Now that Jean had had a taste of what made up Marco, he craved more. He wanted to know so much more about the guy sitting next to him, still practically a stranger. "Tell me about it. What growing up there was like, your family, your friends?"

Marco looked surprised. Jean blushed.

"It was great. I love Austin, I miss it a lot. My mom and dad and my little brothers are still there. They're amazing, I haven't seen them since last Christmas since I stayed up here and worked during the summer."

"How old are your brothers?"

"Steven is 18, Hunter is 16 and Jack is 13. What about you, any siblings?"

Jean shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "A half sister I've never met from my dad's second marriage. Lives with them out in California. She's eight."

"Oh." Marco looked equally uncomfortable which only made Jean feel guilty.

"Its fine. Tell me more about your Texas life. What was high school Marco like?"

"Oh god. Such a dork. I thought I was cool though," he laughed that pleasant laugh that always made Jean chuckle a little too. "I did well in school. I was in choir and took a bunch of art and web design classes. I was one of those kids that walked down the hall reading a book."

"I bet you were in debate too," Jean teased.

Marco covered his bright red face with his hands. "I was," he whined.

"No way!" Jean busted out laughing. "There's nothing wrong with that though," he assured.

"What about you? What were you like, Mr. Cool?"

"You already know i was big into lacrosse. Lets see. I was really into theater and tech theater, I thought I'd grow up to be some big filmmaker or playwrite. I was such an asshole. I honestly don't know how I had any friends. I'm pretty sure the only reason Eren, Mikasa and Armin were friends with me was because Eren was just as big a dick as I was and they were used to it."

"Why don't you?"

"What?"

"Make movies, write plays."

Jean had to take a second, somewhat dumbfounded by the question.

"Uh. It's not really something you just do. Its just a kid's dream, you know?"

"You could do it if you wanted to. You're really smart and interesting, if anyone I know could do it, it'd be you." Marco smiled encouragingly.

Jean felt his face heat up. "Th- thanks," he stammered.

They continued talking for a long time. They talked more about their families and places they had lived before moving to the East Coast. Two hours passed like nothing.

Jean thought about how nice it had been before Marco had treked across the treacherous parking lot and back to his coworkers. He had replayed the conversation in his head that night while hiding out in the library. He wished Marco was there now. He had never minded the excessive alone time his job allowed until he'd remembered how much more entertaining it was to pass the time with someone. Jean looked across to the adjacent shack and then back at his surveillance monitor. Fuck it.

Jean poured two styrofoam cups of coffee, pulled on his coat and dug around for the barely functioning umbrella they kept in the shack. He clipped his walkie talkie to his belt, took one last look at the little television screen and walked out the door of his shack and out into the dreary morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God it has been one day over three months since my last update, I am so so sorry. Hopefully that never happens again. Good news is I know how it ends now, haha. Thanks for sticking around even though I really sucked at keeping up with this lately. You guys are amazing. Also, sorry, its kind of short, but I wanted the next bit to be part of the next chapter.


	8. What the hell are you doing here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Change in setting! Whaaaaatttt?! In which Jean visits Marco.

Jean struggled trying to juggle the two cups and umbrella, sloshing some of the contents onto his hand. He swore under his breath, hoping he didn't just stain one of his favorite hoodies. He managed to make it all the way to the neighboring shack without dropping anything. Pausing to look from his full hands to the door handle, he realized he hadn't exactly thought this through. Just as he was trying to balance enough to hook his foot through the handle, the door flew open.

"Kirschtein, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, gee, Jaeger, I thought it’s such a lovely day out, I'll go for a stroll," he deadpanned. "Are you gonna fucking let me in, or what, because I'm getting fucking drenched here."

Eren, moved to the side, still propping the door open and allowing Jean to walk through. He had never been inside this shack before. It was significantly bigger than his. At the back a door lead to a bathroom, next to it was a large copy machine and a network of shelves and trays filled with bills and paperwork. Two long counters ran the length of the shack with two computer stations on each side, Marco and Mikasa were sitting at two with pens and highlighters neatly arranged near them. At the station nearest the door and next to an even larger printer, presumably for bills, was a mess of scratch paper, pens, paper clips, and bills that Jean assumed must be Eren's work area.

Jean turned to the right and placed the cups of coffee on the microwave balanced on top of a mini fridge. The shack was mostly windows, three of which slid open and had small ledges in front of them, perfect for standing at and passing papers to drivers. He had to admit they had a pretty sweet set up. The fourth computer seemed to be playing top forty music softly. 

"Hey, Jean!" Marco beamed at him, swiveling his chair a little more to see him better.

Mikasa held up her hand in a pseudo wave that Jean was familiar with, he mirrored the action. 

"I, uh, brought coffee," Jean said as he walked past the little crowd, handing a cup off to Marco, and into the bathroom to wash the coffee from his sleeve.

"Wow, thanks," Marco called to him. "Is the creamer in your pocket?"

"Oh, shit," Jean cursed, he and his reflection's eyes grew wide. "We ran out a few days ago and I've just been drinking my coffee black, I didn't even think."

As he rounded the corner, paper towels still clenched in his hands, Eren was taking the cup from Marco.

"Cool, just how I like it."

Jean could feel his mouth pulling into a grimace, but shrugged it off. He was not here to fight with Jaeger, he was here to try and make Marco's day better, like the freckled dork always did for him. He grabbed his cup from the microwave and pulled out the unused chair, spinning to face the rest of the group. He noticed that he had spilled more of the cup's contents than he realized, the dark liquid only reaching a quarter of the way up. Seriously, one of these days he was going to make Marco coffee and not screw it up.

“So, again, what the hell are you doing here, Jean?”

"Since Marco usually comes to visit me, I figured today I'd come visit him." That sounded so much lamer out loud.

"What do you guys even do over there?"

"We usually just talk," Marco offered with a smile. "Sometimes we listen to music, a few days ago we watched some vine compilations and top ten videos."

"You can talk to this guy for that long," Eren asked gesturing towards Jean incredulously. "Its gotta be like talking to a brick wall." Jean glared at him.

"Not at all, why would you say that?"

Eren shrugged, looking around the room. "Jean doesn't usually do well with new people. Or old people. Or really just people in general."

"Eren," Mikasa softly warned, glancing up from her paperwork.

"What, its true!" The brunet put his hands up defensively. Jean dragged a hand down his face, praying to whatever god would take pity on him that Jaeger would stop talking. "You remember what he was like when we first started hanging out with him."

"Can we not?" Jean pleaded.

"He's weird and terrible at keeping a conversation going, and even after he gets comfortable, he either gets worked up over something, is trying to sound cool, or still just barely participates in the conversation."

"Eren, I'm gonna fucking punch you." Jean was trying so hard not to get into his usual screaming match with the asshole, he didn't want Marco to think he was a psychopath or something.

"Actually, its really easy to talk to Jean." Jean looked up and Marco met his gaze, smiling reassuringly. "He always has a unique perspective and never treats my opinion as trivial. I don't think he's the same kid you knew in high school. You two may not be as close as you used to be, but you're actually really similar."

Jean wasn't sure if he felt more appreciation and warmth in his gut because Marco stood up for him, or irritation that he had been compared to Eren. Judging by the look on Jaeger's face, he was definitely feeling the latter.

Marco chuckled, rolling his eyes. "You both won't shut up about the new Thor movie coming out."

Like a switch had been flipped, Jean and Eren both traded in their scrunched up faces of disapproval for smiles and animated hand gestures. For the next thirty minutes, the two discussed their hopes for the sequel and favorite story lines from the comics, with a few interjections from Marco and Mikasa. They became more boisterous with every new point. Even when they were agreeing with each other, it sounded like they were fighting.

"The theater down the street from Sasha's has a midnight showing on Thursday, we should go," Mikasa suggested, having finished what she was working on and giving the conversation her undivided attention.

"Hell yeah we should!" Eren stood up and moved to the window as a truck approached. "What do you say, Jean?"

"Sounds good to me. Marco, you're going too, right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." He smiled widely.

"Cool. Well, I should, uh, probably go back and do my job or something." Jean laughed and waved as he tossed his empty Styrofoam cup in the trash and opened his umbrella, dashing out into the rain. As soon as he was back in his shack, he purchased his ticket and pulled up the first Thor movie online. Jean hit play, grinning like an idiot, Thursday could not come quick enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look this time it didn't take like three months. Its hells late, I should be asleep, thank you for reading, you guys are amazing! 
> 
> I feel like this one is really short. Sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> Multi-chaptered shit is hard. I have most of chapter two written out, just gotta type it up. I promise its not all Jean sitting alone being a grump :)
> 
> Tumblr= hoddiemaine  
> And my writing blog is fic-le-pickle but I'm gonna be honest I've been sucking really bad at keeping up with that one lately.


End file.
